Former Chief Backs Car Into Building

April 17, 2003|By TINA A. BROWN; Courant Staff Writer

Former acting Hartford Police Chief Deborah Barrows, who made history in 1999 when she was appointed the state's highest ranking female police official, accidentally backed her very large SUV Tuesday into the future site of the city's police department museum, police say.

Barrows, who was not injured, was apparently trying to back her Ford Expedition into a parking space in front of 525 Main St. The vehicle failed to stop and rammed the front window of the building, as well as an inside wall, said Capt. Michael Fallon, the commander of the downtown police district.

After the accident, about 1 p.m. Tuesday, Barrows' first concern was the welfare of the people inside. ``She asked, did I hurt anybody,'' Fallon said. No one was injured, he said.

Ironically, the police department was preparing to demolish the front entrance of the building in order to move police cars and other memorabilia into the building. ``This expedited that,'' said Fallon, who said the window will probably be replaced next week.

The relocation of the museum, the city training conference rooms and the traffic division from its current location on Pearl Street has been underway for months. The department obtained a grant from the Greater Hartford Arts Council to pay for the renovations, and sought the help of volunteers to offset the costs of the move, Fallon said.

As for Barrows, investigators concluded ``this was a pure accident in the strictest form,'' Fallon said. But police also found that Barrows had committed ``unsafe backing.'' She was not ticketed for the incident.

Barrows, a retired veteran, served as an acting chief of police for 15 months. She was unavailable for comment Wednesday.